Air humidifying device



AWE mm J. 5. DURNELL ETAL mam AIR HUMIDIFYING DEVICE Filed Aug. 10, 1934til llil

liiierion, Fa,

assignors to li/lierion Sporting Goods Manufacturing iCorp,Philadelphia, Fa, a corporation oi Pennsylvania Application August llii,319341, Serial No. 739,354

3 (Claims.

tion, economic to manufacture, and efiticient in operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an air-humidifyingdevice comprising one or more rotating brushes arranged cooperativelywith the liquid in a liquid reservoir to generate therefrom a fine mistor vapor with which air to be humidiiied is forced into intimateassociation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device in whichone or more rotating brushes arranged in cooperative relation with theliquid in a liquid reservoir set up aturbulent action and thus generatea fine mist or vapor, and

air to be moistened or humidified is forced into intimate contact withthe generated mist or vapor in a predetermined direction to efiectmaximum saturation of the air.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of thisnature including means for breaking up any sizeable particles of liquidwhich might be formed by the generation of the mist.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent as thedescription proceeds.

in the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the air-humidifying device with thecasing thereof broken away to disclose the contained parts;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken longitudinally of the device; a

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken transversely of the device at one endthereof :and

Fig. l is a perspective view illustrating the device in cooperativerelation with an air-heating device, such as a radiator of a hot waterheating system.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, theair-humidifying device comprises a casing having a container-like bodyland a removable lid or cover 2. The body of the casing is formed so asto provide a liquid reservoir 3 at one end thereof and a chamber orcompartment 4 adjacent the reservoir, the tw being separated by anintermediate wall 5. The end wall 6 of the casing is provided with asuitable air ingress opening i and adjacent the wall 6 there is providedan air ingress passage 8 which leads into thedevice from the bottom atone end as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The cover or lid 2 serves to closethe top of the air ingress passage t but terminates short of theopposite end wall t of the casing v to provide an air egress passage itat the top of the device at one end thereof through which the moistenedor humidified air is dispelled into the outside atmosphere.

The reservoir 3 is supplied with liquid, such as water, through a supplypipe it and the level of 10 the liquid in the reservoir is preferablyautomatically maintained at a predetermined height v by a float valveit. One. or more brushes it having radially-extending bristles arepositioned within the reservoir in predetermined relation to the liquidcontained therein. in the present instance, two such brushes are shownbut it will be understood that any number of brushes may be used. Thebrushes may be constructed in any suitable manner and should preferablybe pro- 24p vided with relatively stiff bristles. The bristles may bestifi hair bristles or stiff metallic bristles or they may beconstructed of any other suitable material. Preferably a plurality ofspaced rows or sets of radially-extending bristles it are provided, 25and are mounted on a hub portion secured to an end of the shaft it, withuninterrupted annular spaces between the said spaced rows or sets ofbristles. It has been found by repeated experiment that by so spacingthe bristles or sets of bristles on the hub portion as to provide theuninterrupted annular spaces between the rows or sets of bristles, thedevice operates far more ei' fectively and emciently in the generationof a fine mist or vapor than does a construction which includes a singlesolid brush whose contacting surface is of the same extent as theaggregate contacting surfaces of the spaced rows or sets of bristles.

The brushes are carried by the imperforate hub 0 'at the end of theshaft M which extends through the dividing wall 5. Each of the brushsections comprises closely adjacent radial bristles which form a wallthat is substantially impervious to air with the outer ends of thebristles forming a rough circumferential surface of predetermined width.This construction of the brush sections and the annular spaces betweenthem cause the device to generate an extremely fine mist or vapor. Theshaft is rotatable by a suitable device, m such as an electric motor l5,disposed within the chamber 4. A fan or blower it of any suitableconstruction is carried at the other end of shaft I4 adjacent the airingress opening I in wall 6, so that air from outside the device issucked or propelled through the passage 8 and opening I.

The peripheries of the rotary brushes l3 are so disposed relative to theliquid in the reservoir that when rotated at relatively high speed, thebrushes set up a turbulent action and generate a fine mist or vapor. Tothis end, the brushes are preferably so disposed that the outer freeends of their bristles skim the surface of the liquid in the reservoirwhen the device is in operation, although some slight submersion of thebristles in the liquid during rotation is permissible. We havediscovered that a rotary brush, when thus disposed and operated incooperative relation with a body of liquid, effectively generates a veryfine mist or vapor containing substantially no sizeable particles ofliquid, this action being caused by the intense turbulent action thusproduced. When dry air is brought into contact with the fine mist thusgenerated, maximum absorption of moisture by the air takes place. Wehave discovered further that the absorption of moisture by the air isbest effected if the air is caused to fiow toward the generated mist ina direction substantially parallel to the axis of the brush, or, inother words, at right angles to the generated whirl produced by theturbulent action. Accordingly, the device is so designed that the fan l6propels the air in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. Thepropelled air passes over wall 5 and into engagement with the generatedmist. The

moistened or humidified air which is thus produced then passes outthrough the air egress opening [0, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2.

Although there is little tendency of the device to produce vaporcontaining sizeable liquid particles, in order to break up any suchparticles as might be formed, a screen I! of suitably fine mesh ispositioned in the reservoir as clearly shown in Fig. l. The direction ofrotation of the brushes will be counterclockwise as viewed from thebrush'end of the device in Fig. 1. It will be seen that any sizeableliquid particles which might be produced will be thrown against thescreen and will thus be atomized or collected on the screen from whencethey will drop back into the liquid body.

Although there is little tendency for the generated mist or vapor topass into chamber 4 owing to the force of the air flow intothereservoir, in order to insure against this, the portion I 8 of wall 5,over which the air flows, is obliquely or slantingly disposed so as toform a. shield and prevent any moisture from getting onto the parts ofmotor l5 which might be deleterlously affected thereby.

The liquid which is supplied to the device may be taken from anysuitable source. Preferably, the device is of a portable nature and isadapted to be positioned upon a heating device such as a radiator asshown in Fig. 4. If the device is used in conjunction with a hot waterheating system, the water supplied to the device may be taken directlyfrom the system by connecting the device to the radiator, as by the pipel9 shown in Fig.

r 4. This, of course, will be somewhat of a drain heated and thismaterially enhances the moisture absorption. By having the humidifyingdevice adapted to be placed upon a radiator, as illustrated, and byhaving the air ingress opening leading into the device from the bottom,it is insured that the air supplied to the device is in the bestcondition for moisture absorption which is the case when the air hasjust passed upward in contact with the radiator surface.

We have found that a small device of this nature which occupies only aportion of the top surface of an average sized radiator is sufficient tomaintain the humidity at a desired value in an average sized housing ordwelling. Due to its eificiency, the device may be made small andcompact for usual purposes. The device will, of course, be operatedintermittently and the operation may be controlled either manually orautomatically. Preferably, the device will be controlled automaticallyby a suitable humidostat or like control device functioning to close theenergizing circuit of the motor when the humidity of the air falls to apredetermined value and to deenergize the motor when the device hasoperated sufliciently to raise the humidity to a desired value. Suchcontrol devices are conventional and need no illustration or furtherdiscussion.

Although a preferred form of the device has been'illustrated anddescribed herein for the purpose of disclosure, it will be understoodthat various modifications and changes in the details of the device maybe made without departing from the invention.

We claim:

1. In an air-humidifying device, a liquid reservoir, rotatable brushmeans arranged cooperatively with the liquid in the reservoir, saidbrush means comprising a plurality of annular brush sections spacedaxially along an imperforate hub with uninterrupted annular spacesextending between said sections, each of said brush sections comprisingclosely adjacent radial bristles forming a Wall that is substantiallyimpervious to air with the outer ends of the bristles forming a roughcircumferential surface of predetermined width, said brush sectionsbeing arranged so that the outer ends of the bristles substantially skimthe surface of the liquid in the reservoir when the device is inoperation, means for rotating said brush means at relatively high speedto generate a fine mist or vapor by contact between said rotating brushmeans and the liquid in the reservoir, and means for bringing air intointimate association with the generated mist, whereby absorption ofmoisture by the air is effected.

2. In an air-humidifying device, a liquid reservoir, rotatable brushmeans arranged cooperatively with the liquid in the reservoir, saidbrush means comprising a plurality of annular brush sections spacedaxially along an imperforate hub with uninterrupted annular spacesextending between said sections, each of said brush sections comprisingclosely adjacent radially-extending stiff bristles forming a wall thatis substantially impervious to air with the outer ends of the bristlesforming a rough circumferential surface of predetermined width, saidbrush sections being arranged so that the outer ends of the bristlessubstantially skim the surface of the liquid in the reservoir when thedevice is in operation,

means for rotating said brush means at relatively high speed to generatea fine mist or vapor by contact between said rotating brush means andthe liquid in the reservoir, and means operable by said last means forforcing air into intimate aoaepae association with the generated mist,whereby ah" sorption of moisture by the air is effected.

3. In an air-humidiiying device, a liquid reservoir, rotatable brushmeans arranged cooperatively with the liquid in the reservoir, saidbrush means comprising a plurality of annular brush sections spacedaxially along an imperforate hub with uninterrupted annular spacesextending between said. sections, each of said brush sections comprisingclosely adjacent radially-extending stifi bristles forming a Wall thatis substantially impervious to air with the outer ends of the .hristlesforming a rough circumferential surface of; predetermined width, saidbrush sections he ing arranged so that the outer ends of the bristlessubstantially skim the surface of the liquid in the reservoir when thedevice is in operation, means for rotating said thrush. means atrelatively high speed to generate a fine mist or vapor by contactbetween said rotating brush means and the liquid in the reservoir, meansoperable by said last means for forcing air into intimate associationwith the generated mist, whereby absorption of moisture hy the air isefiected, and means for maintaining the liquid level in proper relationto said brush means.

